…NANS Decries NUC Inaction

 The discovery that Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma has graduated three consecutive sets of laboratory scientists without accreditation has sparked widespread concern and raised questions about the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) oversight and regulatory role in ensuring educational quality. Despite these concerning developments, the NUC has remained conspicuously silent on the subject, prompting further investigation into their mechanisms for monitoring and enforcing accreditation standards in higher education institutions. As stakeholders and the general public demand accountability and intervention in this troubling situation, the consequences of this oversight lapse for the credibility of academic qualifications and the prospects of these graduates remain a pressing issue that must be addressed and resolved immediately. Report by FRANCIS ONOIRIBHOLO and APATA OYENIRAN

 The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has issued a four-year ban on Ambrose Alli University, Ek­poma from admitting new students to the Department of Medical Laboratory Science.

This followed the suspension of the course’s accreditation in 2022. As a result, three sets of Department graduates have been unable to undergo the induction required to practise their profession.

Saturday INDEPENDENT checks re­vealed that to become practising medical laboratory scientists, graduates must be inducted into the profession by the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN).

According to reports, Ambrose Alli University was sanctioned by the regu­latory body after it was discovered that the university’s management overshot the admission quota of the Department of Medical Laboratory Science.

According to reports, the regulatory body suspended the course’s accred­itation after discovering that the de­partment admitted 800 students rather than the approved 140 students that the teaching facilities could accommodate. This resulted in the course’s accredita­tion being suspended beginning in 2022 when the previous accreditation expired and was due for renewal.

Following the protest by the affected students and their parents, the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria has agreed to induct the graduates in batches over the next four years.

The council was also said to have prohibited admission to the Department within the next four years. One of the affected students who requested ano­nymity told our correspondent that the head of Department of Medical Labora­tory Science, Dr. Friday Iweka, has been having sleepless nights over the issue.

According to the student, the course was previously accredited, but it expired in 2022. As a result, students who grad­uated after their accreditation expired are yet to be inducted into the MLSCN.

Another student, who also request­ed anonymity, stated that many of his classmates had experienced depression. He claimed that the school administra­tion had repeatedly assured them that they were working tirelessly to regain accreditation, but nothing had been ac­complished in two years.

“The school management has prom­ised us a date for induction several times, but they keep breaking their promises, leaving graduates who spent eight years in university instead of five in a state of uncertainty. We are eager to start our careers, but this is preventing us from moving forward.”

When contacted, the department’s head, Friday Iweka, stated that there was no problem with the department because it had not lost any accreditation. “Our accreditation expired in 2022, and we are in the process of re-accrediting the course, which will be completed very soon,” he explained.

Iweka, who declined to answer fur­ther questions, did not explain why the accreditation expired. However, in a six-paragraph statement to this report­er, the University’s Head of Corporate Communication and Protocol, Otunba Mike Aladenika, stated, “Our attention has been drawn to reports and unholy insinuations making the rounds in some selected media, concerning issues sur­rounding the status of our students in Medical and Laboratory Science.

“It should be stated categorically that the issues raised are far from the truth in terms of these students. Indeed, the University has never lost accreditation for any of its accredited courses; how­ever, some courses, such as the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) in question, may require reaccreditation procedures.

“We are pleased to inform you that the process of re-accreditation is under­way and will be completed within a few months.

“About some of the students who claimed to have graduated for several years without being inducted by the council, the reality is that we have a problem with over-admission that this administration inherited but must ad­dress. The Council of Medical Labora­tory Science can only admit 120 students who have been indexed.

“By the grace of God, these indexed students will be inducted as soon as pos­sible, as plans are underway to get the council to conduct the two prerequisite examinations that will lead to their in­dexing.

“Overall, the management is paving the way for a better set of graduates and students from AAU, Ekpoma; it is only a matter of time,” he stated.

However, one of the lecturers who was fuming over the whole situation said the medical laboratory science graduates are not the only ones caught in this dilemma. According to the lec­turer, who refused to give his name, the University’s Law, Medicine, and Nursing departments are experiencing a similar problem.

He lashed out angrily, “The Univer­sity that used to be the pride of every aspiring lawyer is now a shadow of it­self, with myriads of de-accredited and un-accreditable.

“The law programme has lost accred­itation on several occasions due to a lack of manpower; the faculty is now resort­ing to hiring mercenaries to stand in as staff, only to be laid off after accredita­tion. To raise funds through school fees, the programme has resulted in 400% more admissions than the approved quota. This scheme is intended to bring in students, collect exorbitant fees from them, and then devise a method to with­draw the students after two academic sessions. This has caused unrest among several students.

“I imagine how Prof Ambrose Ali would feel in his grave right now. This is not the law programme he worked so hard to create. The Department of Medicine and Surgery has been unable to admit students for four (4) academic sessions as a result of the programme’s shaky accreditation status, over-admis­sion of students by 800% above the ap­proved quota, a lack of manpower, infra­structure, and equipment, to name a few. “This is not the medical school that Prof Ambrose Alli envisioned and sacrificed his life for. The situation in the Nursing department is very similar to what hap­pens in Medicine. Over 800 students are admitted to a programme with a 50-stu­dent quota and interim accreditation, but no manpower. What a shame to have a department with only two full-time and three part-time academic staff.

“The students have no good learning environment, but they pay high school fees, posting fees, and laboratory fees, to name a few. Admission has been halted, and those already enrolled are trapped.

“The Department of Medical Labora­tory Science (MLS), which sparked this entire discussion, is in a worse state. Professor Dennis Agbonlahor founded this department. You may recall that this same MLS programme was the country’s first bachelor’s degree programme, and students from Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity, Ile-Ife, the Universities of Benin, and Calabar had to come to AAU Ekpoma to complete their studies. It is now only a shadow of its former self. Aside from the fact that it has been unable to admit students for three (3) academic sessions, it has also been unable to process the degree results and practising licence of three sets of students who alleged­ly graduated illegally and without the knowledge of the regulatory authorities.

“AAU, Ekpoma, is on the verge of closure due to financial constraints. The lies being spread by SIT members are nothing more than figments of their imagination. SIT is feeding fat into the system; they hold arbitrary meetings all the time and earn bogus allowances, and I am confident that Governor Godwin Obaseki, the University’s visitor, is un­aware of these,” he added.

However, as the ongoing course ac­creditation crisis affecting graduates of Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpo­ma’s Medical Laboratory Science pro­gramme worsens, the National Univer­sities Commission (NUC) has classified the situation as an internal matter.

The NUC’s primary functions include approving all academic pro­grammes run in Nigerian universities; granting approval for the establishment of all higher educational institutions of­fering degree programmes in Nigerian universities; ensuring quality assurance of all academic programmes offered in Nigerian universities; and channelling all external support to Nigerian univer­sities.

Speaking with Saturday INDEPEN­DENT, an academic staff member from a Federal university in the southwest stated that the goal of accreditation, which is based on the readiness of any government-approved institution, is to invite the National Universities Com­mission (NUC) to assess the human, material, and infrastructural resources available for programme delivery at the institution.

He confirmed that if an institution is not ready for inspection, the NUC can­not force a visitation on any university, just as it is expected that the university will not enroll students in programmes and courses that are not fully accredited and that any successful assessment is fol­lowed by a “Notification of Result of Pro­gramme Pre-validation Assessment.”

Earlier, in response to the develop­ments at the university, the National As­sociation of Nigerian Students (NANS) condemned the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) lackadaisical ap­proach to regulating and monitoring ad­mission quotas for professional courses in universities across the country.

According to Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, President of the Senate, NANS Headquarters, the regulatory authority’s lacklustre posture has resulted in uni­versity management admitting students into programmes without the necessary accreditation and overcrowding beyond what is permitted.